Poet Laureate Events & Initiatives
CITY COUNCIL READING: NOV 9th
MORE INFORMATION
Kyeren Regehr
The City of Victoria's 7th Poet Laureate
Jan 1st 2025 to Dec 31st 2026
Serving the community on the lək̓ʷəŋən homelands.
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Kyeren Regehr is a poet and writer living in Victoria since 2004. She is the author of Cult Life (finalist for the National ReLit Awards and The Victoria Butler Book Prize); Disassembling A Dancer (winner of the inaugural Raven Chapbooks contest), and two earlier chapbooks. Her poetry has been published in literary periodicals and anthologies in Canada, Australia and the USA, thrice longlisted for the CBC Poetry Awards, and has received grants from Canada Council for the Arts. She is the editor of AFTER: Poems in Response, forthcoming with Caitlin Press.
Kyeren is the Artistic Director of Planet Earth Poetry, one of Canada's longest running reading series, approaching its 30th season this fall, and she served on the editorial board of Canada's iconic literary periodical, The Malahat Review. She holds an MFA in Writing (earning The Victoria Medal for her BFA in Writing), and taught in the Department of Writing at the University of Victoria. She has mentored poets through the Writer’s Union of Canada and the League of Canadian Poets, and works as a literary editor, writing teacher and mentor.
Kyeren’s background is in professional dance and theatre, and she once found herself in Victoria’s Poetry Slam finals by accident. In 2024 she completed Indigenous Canada through the University of Alberta. She lives and writes with gratitude on the unceded homelands of the W̱SÁNEĆ people.
photo by Regina Akhankina
THE POETRY AMBASSADORS
Zoe Dickinson | Nina Mosall | Tracy Wai de Boer
The Poetry Ambassadors work with the Poet Laureate, helping her to serve the community of Victoria, offering outreach, event support, and more. This new initiative is inspired by the Vancouver Poets Laureate, and was originally created by Rachael Rose.
EVENTS
As Victoria's Poet Laureate, Kyeren will curate poetry events that speak to the heart of the city—its people, land, stories, and community connection. These events invite presence, reflection, and creative participation, offering both seasoned poets and community members opportunities to gather around language, and experience the power and immediacy of poetry.
Response Poetry
Many events include a short audience-writing component. Pencils and index cards will be on hand, along with an invitation to respond, in your own words, to what you’ve seen or heard. This simple practice of response poetry brings us into deeper relationship with the moment, ourselves, and one another.
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WINTER POETRY FAIR
Saturday November 15th 12:30-5:30pm
at OPEN SPACE: 510 Fort St, 2nd Floor
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POETRY for EARTH DAY 2026
COMING IN 2026

POETRY BY THE SEA
A National Poetry Month Event 2026
COMING IN 2026

VICTORIA'S EMERGING POETS 2026
COMING IN 2026



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